As a result of its access to billions of Instagram users and a resemblance to its rival's design, Meta's Threads amassed more than 30 million sign-ups within around 18 hours of its launch and became the first serious threat to Elon Musk-owned Twitter.
Threads, dubbed the "Twitter-Killer," was the most popular free app in the U.S. and the UK on Thursday in the Apple App Store. It arrives after months of teasing from Twitter CEO Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who even threatened to engage in a live mixed martial arts cage bout in Las Vegas.
"The cage match has started, and Zuckerberg delivered a major blow. In many ways, it's exactly what you'd expect from Meta: Stellar execution and an easy-to-navigate user interface," Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said.
In retaliation, Twitter threatened to sue Meta on Thursday, according to the news source Semafor, which cited a letter sent to Zuckerberg by a Twitter lawyer. There was no quick comment from Twitter. The Semafor claim was not immediately confirmed by Reuters.
According to Meta, there are no former Twitter employees on the Threads technical team.
Following Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media site last year, which was followed by a series of erratic actions that alienated both users and advertisers, a number of rivals to Twitter have emerged. Musk's most recent action was restricting how many tweets users may read each day.
Analysts and industry professionals claimed that Twitter's missteps have created space for a well-funded rival like Meta Platforms, particularly due to the latter's access to Instagram users and advertising prowess.
"Meta's release of Threads came at the perfect time to give it a fighting chance to unseat Twitter," said Niklas Myhr, professor of marketing at Chapman University, referring to the turmoil at Twitter after it limited the number of tweets users can see.
"Threads will be off to a running start as it is built upon the Instagram platform with its massive user base and if users adopt Threads, advertisers will be following closely behind."
Other rivals have had only modest success. According to its website, Mastodon, another programme similar to Twitter, has 1.7 million monthly active users, while Bluesky, backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has roughly 265,000.
In May 2022, Twitter had 229 million active monthly users, according to a statement made prior to Musk's acquisition.
The more than 2 billion monthly active users of Instagram may easily install Threads because it is a separate app that allows users to log in using their Instagram credentials.
Given that Threads still lacks Twitter's bells and whistles, its launch was obviously only a first attempt at a service.
"There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," Zuckerberg said on Threads, where he now has a million followers.
Because Threads lacks hashtags and keyword search capabilities, users are unable to follow events in real time like they do on Twitter. Additionally, it does not yet have a direct messaging feature or a desktop version that some users, such commercial organisations, depend on.
Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee and other users have discussed the necessity for a feed that only contains the people one is following. The main feed currently has very little user control.
To bolster advertiser confidence, Musk hired Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino in May. On Thursday, she tweeted that "everyone's voice matters" on the platform. "We're frequently copied, but the Twitter community is incomparable."
The Threads app does not now have any advertisements, and according to Zuckerberg, the business won't consider monetization until it is clear how to reach 1 billion users.
According to Pinar Yildirim, an associate professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Threads' earnings should be aided by current ad partnerships with Facebook and Instagram.
"Facebook is a less uncertain bet compared to Twitter and a bigger player in the ad market."
In the case of Instagram's Stories and Reels, some observers claimed that Threads was similar to Meta's successful integration of key features from platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.
The price objective for Meta shares, whose value has already more than doubled this year, was upped by at least four brokerages.
Following a 3% increase on Wednesday in anticipation of Threads' introduction, Meta shares were down 0.2% on Thursday.
(Source:www.thestar.com)
Threads, dubbed the "Twitter-Killer," was the most popular free app in the U.S. and the UK on Thursday in the Apple App Store. It arrives after months of teasing from Twitter CEO Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who even threatened to engage in a live mixed martial arts cage bout in Las Vegas.
"The cage match has started, and Zuckerberg delivered a major blow. In many ways, it's exactly what you'd expect from Meta: Stellar execution and an easy-to-navigate user interface," Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said.
In retaliation, Twitter threatened to sue Meta on Thursday, according to the news source Semafor, which cited a letter sent to Zuckerberg by a Twitter lawyer. There was no quick comment from Twitter. The Semafor claim was not immediately confirmed by Reuters.
According to Meta, there are no former Twitter employees on the Threads technical team.
Following Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media site last year, which was followed by a series of erratic actions that alienated both users and advertisers, a number of rivals to Twitter have emerged. Musk's most recent action was restricting how many tweets users may read each day.
Analysts and industry professionals claimed that Twitter's missteps have created space for a well-funded rival like Meta Platforms, particularly due to the latter's access to Instagram users and advertising prowess.
"Meta's release of Threads came at the perfect time to give it a fighting chance to unseat Twitter," said Niklas Myhr, professor of marketing at Chapman University, referring to the turmoil at Twitter after it limited the number of tweets users can see.
"Threads will be off to a running start as it is built upon the Instagram platform with its massive user base and if users adopt Threads, advertisers will be following closely behind."
Other rivals have had only modest success. According to its website, Mastodon, another programme similar to Twitter, has 1.7 million monthly active users, while Bluesky, backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has roughly 265,000.
In May 2022, Twitter had 229 million active monthly users, according to a statement made prior to Musk's acquisition.
The more than 2 billion monthly active users of Instagram may easily install Threads because it is a separate app that allows users to log in using their Instagram credentials.
Given that Threads still lacks Twitter's bells and whistles, its launch was obviously only a first attempt at a service.
"There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," Zuckerberg said on Threads, where he now has a million followers.
Because Threads lacks hashtags and keyword search capabilities, users are unable to follow events in real time like they do on Twitter. Additionally, it does not yet have a direct messaging feature or a desktop version that some users, such commercial organisations, depend on.
Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee and other users have discussed the necessity for a feed that only contains the people one is following. The main feed currently has very little user control.
To bolster advertiser confidence, Musk hired Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino in May. On Thursday, she tweeted that "everyone's voice matters" on the platform. "We're frequently copied, but the Twitter community is incomparable."
The Threads app does not now have any advertisements, and according to Zuckerberg, the business won't consider monetization until it is clear how to reach 1 billion users.
According to Pinar Yildirim, an associate professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Threads' earnings should be aided by current ad partnerships with Facebook and Instagram.
"Facebook is a less uncertain bet compared to Twitter and a bigger player in the ad market."
In the case of Instagram's Stories and Reels, some observers claimed that Threads was similar to Meta's successful integration of key features from platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.
The price objective for Meta shares, whose value has already more than doubled this year, was upped by at least four brokerages.
Following a 3% increase on Wednesday in anticipation of Threads' introduction, Meta shares were down 0.2% on Thursday.
(Source:www.thestar.com)
